Arrested!
by Jumaolster
Summary: Spoilerfic! Internal Affairs! Updated!
1. Chapter 1

Title: Arrested!

Summary: Spoilerfic!!!! Warning!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI Miami etc

Rating: K+

Natalia heard the commotion outside the lab and raised her head to see what was going on. Through the glass wall she saw Horatio arguing with one of the officers from the IAB, and Calleigh suddenly turned on her heel, ran along the corridor, and then entered the lab from the secondary door.

"Natalia!", Calleigh was out of breath, "If there is something you want to tell me, please do it now, right away!"

"What are you talking about?"

Actually Natalia had a bad feeling Nick had gotten her into trouble yet again, but she couldn't say so. They'd had a huge fight the evening before. Nick had some photos he'd taken while they where still married, he'd taken them once when he'd beaten her up. She had never been so humiliated in her life.

She'd rather die than letting someone see those photos, and Nick had threatened to send them to Horatio if she didn't pay his rent from now on. She'd run away and hide in Alaska if that happened, and Nick had taken great pleasure in the fact that he could still torture her mentally.

She didn't have that kind of money, she was currently paying her own mortgage, helping Cristina with her college tuition, and lately Anya's shrink. She'd gone there to convince him to give her the photos for a one time lump sum, but he'd refused. The fight had been furious, and he's pushed her against the fridge before she'd run out of there. But in all her haste she'd forgotten her jacket.

Looking into Calleigh's stern face, Natalia grew increasingly nervous.

"Nick's been found murdered in his apartment, and the police found your jacket there, with your library card in it, and clear signs of a struggle, with the desk drawer broken into!"

Calleigh took hold of Natalia's arm and shook her carefully.

"Please tell me what happened! The IAB are on their way, we only have a few minutes!"

Calleigh pulled Natalia out of the lab the back door, and both women headed for the women's locker room.

Natalia sat down on a bench and tried to focus. Nick was dead? She hadn't killed him. How was it possible that she felt so sad and shocked, mixed with immense relief?

Calleigh grabbed her shoulders:

"Natalia, I mean it! Talk to me!" Calleigh used her best supervisor voice and Natalia immediately reacted:

"I went there yesterday to discuss something with Nick, and we had a fight! I didn't kill him, I swear!" Natalia, always impulsive, stared crying, in fear and sorrow and nervousness.

"How about the drawer? What were you fighting about?"

Natalia shook her head: "NO! I didn't do that! Please believe me, Calleigh, I swear!"

Right then, Mina Merha, the new IAB officer, burst through the door.

"Ms Duquesne, please step back!"

Calleigh swore inwardly, but did as told.

"Ms Boa Vista, your ex husband, Nick Townsend, has been found murdered in his apartment. Please come with me to my office, I need you to answer some questions for me."

Natalia felt like someone had grabbed her stomach with a hand of ice, and had pulled it out through her lungs. Her head was spinning, and she couldn't think straight.

She suddenly felt Horatio's presence behind her, she smelled his well known after shave, and then she felt his arm around her.

"Please come with us, Natalia, I'll come with you. Don't worry, ok? All you need to do is tell us the absolute truth and we'll take care of you, ok?"

He tried to smile at her reassuringly and handed her a handkerchief, for her tears and nose.

Officer Merha immediately said:

"I'm very sorry, Lt. Caine, but you can only come with me as an observer. You and all your shift staff are out of this investigation, and I'm warning you not to interfere! "

She'd smiled at him softly. No need to alienate someone as powerful as Horatio Caine. He might come in handy one day, and it was best to cooperate.

Horatio nodded. He'd understood that right away, but that didn't mean he was ok with it.

Horatio, Natalia, her gaze fixed to the floor, still holding Horatio's handkerchief, and Mina Merha walked together through the lab, towards the elevator and Natalia's fate.


	2. Chapter 2

Ding!

The elevator arrived at the floor where the IAB's offices lay. Mina put her hand lightly on Natalia's elbow and led her out of the elevator, just to make sure everyone realised she was the main investigator in the case. Horatio took her lead ( for now) and followed the two women down the long corridor to Mina's office.

Mina opened the door to her office, and indicated the chair right in front of her desk for Natalia, and a chair on the side of the room for Horatio. To her chagrin, Horatio promptly dragged the chair much closer to her desk, in part to have a better view, but also to make sure everyone in the room remembered he was still the boss.

Mina sat down on her side of the desk, and looked down on her closed drawer to find strength and comfort.

Horatio had noticed a band of beads hanging on the top drawer, similar to a rosary, but not a rosary. He made a mental note to research the item later. Know thy enemy.

Mina secretly felt very strongly for the woman in front of her. Mina looked like your perfect American cop on the outside, but her heritage was mixed, and she knew a thing or two about suffering. Mina had been born in Teheran in 1967, her maternal grandfather had survived the Turkish genocide of Armenians, and had been in the group that had made it to then-Persia, and her father was a muslim Persian. With the revolution in 1979, their existence had become unbearable, and her mom & dad had packed up, and they fled the country ironically over Turkey, and had arrived a year later in the States. She'd then been 13, and had nearly become used to wearing a veil at all times outside, but as soon as they arrived, her mother had thrown away all their veils. Now she only wore one on special occasions, like on big holidays when she went to the mosque.

She'd always felt a bit like an outsider, though. There had been only two other Iranian families in the small Miami suburb when they arrived, and her black braids and olive skin at the time had made her stand out. Now she dyed it a discreet dark brown, and most people just assumed she was of Greek or Hispanic decent.

Mina was hoping the woman in front of her was innocent, because she really felt for her, and then this was her first IAB case after just 2 weeks in the Miami office, and getting Natalia freed would be a good move for everyone.

She took a deep breath, hoping the experienced Lt. Caine wouldn't see her nervousness under her tough as nails facade and said:

"Before we start, would you like to make a statement? We've found some very strong evidence against you, but I'd like to hear your side of the story. After reading your file, I understand your husband was not exactly going to be made a saint anytime soon?"

Mina looked straight at Natalia, who had not looked up even once during the entire time they'd been in her office.

Natalia swallowed hard, trying to keep her tears at bay. She felt so desperate, so humiliated, and a small part of her still hoped this would all go away.

She held Horatio's handkerchief in her still trembling hands, and came to a decision. She was going to deal with finding the photos later, and now just telling most of the truth.

Inwardly she'd imagined Ryan looking at those pictures, or Eric.

Eric.

NO way was she going to risk that. He'd never look at her again. She still missed his company, he'd been her first boyfriend after her divorce, and they had been very good together. Sex had been fantastic. But it had been to early, and she'd not been very good at handling the relationship and now they'd been developing a solid friendship.


	3. Chapter 3

She raised her head, and looked straight into a pair of friendly, dark brown eyes. Maybe not all was lost. She turned to Horatio, his blue eyes full of concern.

She nodded.

"I went to see my ex-husband last night. He'd called me because he wanted money for his rent, and I went there to discuss things with him. I told him I can't afford to pay his rent, because I've got some huge expenses right now, my sister Cristina is getting help with her college tuition, and my sister Anya is now living with me, but I have to help her with some very scary things that happened some time ago, and I'm now paying for a therapist to help her deal with these issues."

Always give as many truthful details as possible.

Mina nodded. She'd done her research. Natalia was a competent professional, who'd recently started to qualify as a CSI, and had just had a major family scare with her youngest sister being kidnapped by a maniac.

Natalia continued:

"We had a big fight, I told Nick I could NOT pay his rent, but offered a lump sum, of $ 5000,00, if he'd leave me alone. But Nick did not want to hear anything about a lump sum, and ripped the check I wrote to pieces."

So far, Boa Vista had told the truth. That was a good sign. They'd found the ripped up check, and a note from Nick's landlord that he was late with his payments. Strange though. Why on earth would Natalia just offer him money like that? Mina wasn't buying it, and one little look at Caine told her he was thinking the same.

"We started arguing, and the fight degenerated. Nick pushed me against the fridge, and then I ran away to avoid further physical injury. When I left he was still alive."

Mina looked at her seriously, but when nothing else came, she decided to push Natalia a bit.

"Ms Boa Vista, we found your fingerprints all over the broken-into desk drawer, would you like to elaborate?"

Natalia blushed. Darnit. She should have included that the first time around.

"You're right. I should have told you right away. Nick had to take a phone call and while I was waiting, I wanted to see if it was true that he had problems with his landlord. He was arguing with someone of the phone and I thought he would be occupied for a while.

He always kept his papers in the top desk drawer, and I just fiddled with it a bit."

That was the first outright lie so far, she'd been looking for her photos while he'd been on the phone.

Mina noticed the ever so slight look downwards to the left, a sudden change that did not go unnoticed by Caine either. She decided to let Natalia go on for now and push the issue later.

"I didn't hear him come back, and when he found me, he was furious, and threw me out of the room, pushing me into the kitchen next door and straight into the fridge door."

Not realising what she was doing, she carefully stroke her arm, where a huge black-blue-yellow bruise had formed. She had another one on the side of her back, where she'd bumped into the fridge handle, and one on her leg, from running into the table while escaping out the kitchen door. Thank God Nick's apartment was on the ground floor and had a secondary exit.

As the matter of fact, she'd found to key to that door while snooping around in his drawer, and planned of using it somehow later, to look for the photos.

Both Mina and Horatio picked up immediately on her subconscious gesture, and Mina said:

"If you were hurt by Mr Townsend, I suggest we get you to a Doctor, to document it. "

Natalia didn't want to. She'd been scared and lonely the first time she'd gone through her trial against Nick, and did not ever want to repeat the experience of "being documented".

Horatio, who'd been quiet until now, cut in:

"You can go and see Alexx if you want to. I'll talk to her, and no one will ever see those photos unless absolutely necessary."

Natalia nearly broke down and told him the real reason she'd been there. But somehow, she just couldn't trust herself enough to trust him, and before she'd been able to make the decision to tell him, a young police officer burst into the room without knocking.

"I'm supposed to deliver this, Ma'am!" he blurted out, handing Mina a package. She could have killed the guy, she'd seen the signs of Natalia giving in, and had been hoping to learn the real reason, and Horatio more or less had the same feelings.

DAMN.

"Thank you. You're dismissed!" she said angrily, seeing that the moment had passed and that Natalia had collected herself.

Mina opened the package. Inside was a small tape, with "Natalia" written on it.

"Any idea, Ms Boa Vista, what we'll hear if we listen to this tape?"

Natalia had recognized Nick's handwriting right away, but did not know what was on the tape, and shook her head.

"No, Ma'am, I don't."

Mina looked at her briefly, and then pulled out a tape recorder from a desk drawer, putting in the tape, and silently saying a little prayer for all of them.

Listening to the tape, Natalia wanted to sink through the floor in shame. Nick must have taped part of their conversation last night, from when he came back from his phone call, to when she ran out the kitchen door.

"What are you doing, Nat? Going through my desk? You don't think I'm so dumb I hid it there, do you?" Nick sounded very pleased with himself.

"Oh, please Nick, you're hurting me, let go!"

You could hear moving noises and Natalia crying out in pain, at Nick pushing her against the fridge.

"Hmmmmmmm, Natalia? I bet you've not had anyone for a while, huh? How about I teach you a lesson? I still consider myself your husband, you know, and you're my wife." He'd been holding her against the fridge, his arm sideways against her throat.

On the tape they could hear how a zipper was unzipped.

"Don't, please Nick, let me go! Please just take the money and leave me alone! I hate you! I wish you'd just die!"

Nick was laughing menacingly.

He'd then made the mistake of letting his guard down, and Natalia had kneed him where it REALLY hurt.

They heard Nick gasping in pain, then Natalia yelling when bumping into the table, and the door opening and slamming shut, with Nick yelling after her:

"Just you wait! Horatio Caine will see you soon!"

The tape was broken off.

Both Mina and Horatio looked up, and saw Natalia crying silently, into H's handkerchief, her shoulders shaking.

"Was he blackmailing you? Please tell us the truth, Natalia, and we'll see what we can do. A witness saw your car coming back to the crime scene a couple of hours later, we know you where there!"

Mina was hoping Natalia would come clean.

Instead, Natalia looked up timidly, her eyes and nose all red from crying.

"Can I please use the ladies room? I'm so sorry, but I really need to wash my face? Please, Ma'am?"

Mina wasn't made of marble, and she figured Natalia needed a little break.

"I'll go with her", Horatio said, "We'll be right back."

Mina nodded approval, and H helped Natalia out of the chair and escorted her to the ladies room.

He totally ignored the fact that the IAB's staff bathrooms where on a mezzanine level, with easy access to the garage's rooftop through the window. Natalia knew this from her interrogations with the IAB after the mole scandal, and had decided she was going to get out of there no matter what. Even disappointing Horatio couldn't be helped. She'd always done things on her own, from the time she was a young teen helping to raise her much younger sisters, and she was set to get herself out of this one as well.


	4. Chapter 4

Before she entered the ladies room, Natalia turned to Horatio and said:

"I'm so sorry, Horatio, please forgive me? Please?" She actually felt horrible about betraying him like this.

Horatio gave her an odd look.

"Don't worry Natalia, everything will be just fine."

Natalia sighed deeply and walked into the ladies room, making sure no one was in there, she pulled off her shirt, and slung it over one of the stall doors. She figured if anyone looked in, it would make it appear she was still in there, and she'd gain a couple of minutes

She'd put on a white cotton blouse with long sleeves this morning, to avoid anyone seeing any of her bruises, and underneath she had a white sleeveless white cotton top. People would now see her bruises, if she met someone, but it couldn't be helped.

Opening the window, she jumped down onto the garage roof top, ducking down, and running to the far end, where the street level was closest to the roof level. She braced her self for the impact, jumped down and landed on the entrance to the garage.

She then raced up the drive way, and for once, things went well. There was a cabbie waiting for her right in front of her, she didn't even have to go all the way to the main entrance.

In her haste, she totally missed Calleigh, Eric and Ryan driving up in Ryan's old banged up Chevy, mainly because some donkey's butt of the night shift had driven the hummer home instead of parking it in the Dade garage.

Before they could get her attention, Natalia had hailed the cabbie, climbed in and gave him Nick's address, but from the secondary entrance, and told him to be discreet.

The cabbie took one look at her bruised arm, and felt very sorry for her, and pulled out of there making sure he didn't commit any traffic infractions.

Calleigh ordered:

"Ryan, call H immediately! Eric, get Alexx on the phone, I didn't like the look of that bruise!"

The boys immediately got onto their cell phones, averting H of Natalia's strange departure, and getting Alexx into high alert.

At receiving Ryan's call Horatio ran back to Mina's office, got her out of there, telling her to grab her car keys, and both of them then rushed down the stairs towards her car.

What could be so important that Natalia risked her entire career and even a prison sentence, provided of course she was innocent of the murder?

Once in the car, Mina asked Horatio:

"Do you know anything? You can tell me, I'll be discreet."

Mina had witnessed a stoning of a adulterous woman as a young girl just after the revolution, that had been enough to convince her always to be on the weakest side. She'd also noted that the man had not been punished, he'd merely paid a symbolic fine, and had been just as respected as before.

But Horatio did not know.

"I know her ex-husband treated her terribly, and that he got a job close to her to continue to terrorize her. He's a very bad man, and whatever she's looking for, I'm sure he was blackmailing her for money. Natalia is still very frail, she has difficulties in trusting people, and is eager to please. Maybe she thought I'd disrespect her if I found out about this secret, or maybe she was afraid of being fired?"

Meantime, Natalia had entered Nick's house from the back door, and had been shocked to find to place a total mess. She'd had an idea, Nick had always kept things in boxes in the garage, and she went for the internal door leading to the garage, rushing in without looking for trouble.

To her horror, she ran straight into a man, approx 6'1 tall, and with a muscular build.

He was still dressed in the same bloody shirt he'd dirtied while killing Nick, looking for some evidence Nick had stolen from a crime scene to blackmail him, that could bind him to the murder of his wife. He'd now come back to finish looking, and had just found what he came for when Natalia came bursting in.

He immediately pointed his gun at the unarmed woman, noticing her frazzled state and the bruises on her arm.

"Well, well, what have we here? A nice little bonus present for all my troubles?" he said in a mean voice, that sent ice cold shivers down Natalia's back.

After all, he'd killed two people in one week, what would a little fun with this hottie add to his troubles, in the unlikely event he got caught?

Nothing at all, that's what.

He took one step closer and lifted Natalia's sleeveless t - shirt with the gun, taking huge pleasure in noticing her frightened look. The uniformed police officer who was supposed to be guarding the crime scene was listening to music on his ipod, and would be no trouble at all.

He grinned to himself.

This would be fun.


	5. Chapter 5

Horatio and Mina caught up with Ryan's car, and Calleigh put the blinkers on to signal to them to be careful.

Eric called H:

"We lost them just around the corner, now they are no where to be found!" Ryan's talked to the uniformed cop at guard, but he's seen no one!"

Mina yelled:

"There is a secondary door! Go around the back, and we'll take the front!"

Horatio was not used to anyone taking the lead but himself, but he realised Mina was an ally, and followed her.

Eric and Ryan kicked in the back door at the same time as H and Mina went in the front, Calleigh took the main entrance to the garage at the side of the apartment building.

The men and Mina found absolutely nothing, the house was still a mess from the crime committed, but no one was inside. Then they noticed another side door, probably leading to the garage.

Horatio carefully kneeled down and pushed the door open.

What he saw made him so angry.

Natalia was held hostage by a man, clearly a criminal with blood on his shirt. He'd pulled her sleeveless t-shirt up and Horatio could see a big bruise on the side of her back, in addition to the one on her arm. The man was armed, pointing a gun to her head, while Calleigh was trying to talk him into putting his weapon down.

"Now just you calm down, there, Sir, and put that weapon down, and we'll just talk about things. All you have to do is let this woman go, now hear?" When Calleigh was really scared, she always went back to her childhood's strong dialect. Usually the criminals didn't pick up on her fears, and the thick southern twang calmed them down, or let them underestimate her.

Big mistake.

Calleigh saw the door slowly opening behind the man, but made sure he didn't notice.

Suddenly he felt a movement behind him, but it was too late.

The place was crawling with cops. H and Ryan had immobilized the criminal in two seconds flat.

Eric had rushed to Natalia who had fallen to the floor, crying, and had instinctively taken her into his arms. He covered her with his jacket and held her tightly for a couple of seconds, before Calleigh put her hand on his shoulder to signal that she'd take over for now.

Calleigh said quietly:

"Later ok, Eric? I'll take care of her for now, and then later I'll call you when you can come and see Nat? She just needs a bit of female company right now, ok honey? You and Ry grab the perp and take him to the police station and get him to confess!"

Calleigh's words made sense, and Eric reluctantly let go. Before he turned to the perp he gave Natalia a small kiss on the forehead, not caring who was looking.

Before going to see her later that evening he'd by her a nice present, to convey how much he still cared about her even if they were just friends at the moment. He'd seen her bruises too, and he'd talk to her about telling him things. He oculd have helped with this, instead she'd opted to do all by herself. Silly girl.

Ryan was waiting for him with the uniformed cop and the perp already in cuffs. The poor police officer would get a huge earful from Mina later that day, and would never again be unattentive at a crime scene.

With the murdered safely on his way to the police station with the boys and the uniformed cop, Horatio turned his attention to Natalia, who was crying more quietly into Calleigh's shoulder, Between sobs she'd told Calleigh and Mina about the photos.

Mina told H the story, quietly so no one would hear, and Calleigh, still with Natalia in her arms, called Alexx to come meet her at the hospital. She led Nat to Ryan's car and ordered the officer to drive then to the hospital.

On the way to the hospital, with Calleigh slowly caressing her arms and holing her tightly, Natalia finally calmed down, and agreed to a doctor's examination. Calleigh had promised Alexx would be there to oversee it all, and Calleigh would wait outside the door. If Nat needed her, she would be right there.

When everyone had left, Mina and H started looking for the photos. It took them two hours, but in the end, under a loose tile in the kitchen, they found a yellow manila envelope with NATALIA written on top.

H gave the envelope to Mina, and said:

"Do with it as you seem fit. I don't want to know what's in there unless it's absolutely necessary. I know Natalia acted irresponsibly, but if you agree with me, Calleigh and I will reprimand her ourselves. Together will a 6-months probationary letter in her IAB file, maybe that would be enough? In 6 months time, if Natalia commits no one errors, we could remove the letter?"

That was a rather unusual method, but Mina thought that it would work just fine.

"Ok, Mr Caine, in 6 months time, I'll have another interview with your Natalia, and if she is straightforward and honest with me then, I'll remove the letter. In the meantime, please make sure she gets the best possible care for those bruises, and some help for her mental scars."

Horatio sighed. Natalia was fast becoming his new problem child, but she was well worth the trouble. He'd already noticed her knack for finding small but significant pieces of evidence, the ones Ryan missed, and her ability to question witnesses was formidable. Coupled with Ryan, who's talent for seeing the entire picture at a glance and taking on the perps with intelligence and wit, they were a very strong team, complementing each other's talents and weaknesses. H was sure they were learning from each other as well.

Horatio smiled at Mina. The new IAB officer had proven her worth. Interesting woman, and a brunette at that. Nice, very nice. Horatio wondered how she'd react to an invitation to have a drink together, he new a nice little place in down town Miami just perfect for an informal tete-a-tete. Middle eastern hearty food coupled with a nice glass of red wine. He needed some intelligent company to digest today's events.

Mina smiled tiredly at Horatio. Hm. Redheads normally didn't catch her eye, but that Horatio Caine was really something else, wasn't he?

That was the beginning of a new friendship.

THE END

REVIEWS ARE LOVE.


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